DEVELOPING YOUR OWN SIGNATURE STYLE

People talk about when artists have found their signature style, that it's easier to spot their work, that they sell more pieces, & that their workflow is easier. All of those are true. The most common advice to developing your own signature style though is to simply make lots of art. It can be done that way, but I've found a few tips that can limit the time and save some frustration.

Have you ever gone shopping with a friend and you're drawn to one thing & they're drawn to another? Neither of you are right or wrong. You just have different tastes. Let's take this analogy further. While shopping, have you noticed when an item strikes you & you just HAVE TO HAVE IT? Not when it's something you need that you went looking for, but that feeling that this is exactly what you never knew you always wanted.

Art is the same way. Have you noticed tendencies you may have regarding how you view & appreciate art versus actually buying it? For example, you may appreciate some aspect of someone else's work, but there's a difference when you have a gut reaction that you must buy the item. Your signature style develops in this level. Not just the good, but when you stand back & love it.

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.” -Paul Cézanne

I like to encourage people to go to Pinterest and search for a variety of art styles, genres, techniques, or whatever else strikes you & just save everything you like to a new board. After you've collected around 100 or more images on a board, go back & take a closer look. What patterns emerge? Are you drawn to the same colors? Are you drawn to a sketchy painterly look or line drawings or watercolors? Look at each image and decide what you like about it. Once you start to break apart what you're drawn to, you'll have the beginnings of your own signature style. When I did this for myself, I took notes as I reviewed, "nature, silly playfulness of animals, sketched drawings, charcoal drawings, watercolor paintings, muted neutral color palette, simple color palette with only 2-3 colors, line drawings, lines in unexpected ways, florals in realistic depictions."

“Every good painter paints what he is.” -Jackson Pollock

Guess what I noticed after doing this exercise? It matched my brand voice. Because I am who I am & I create what I like. However, there will likely still be a divide in now knowing what you like & being able to create it. But this just took a lot of trial & error out of the way~ because now you've narrowed the list of possible options.

The next thing I'd do is a control project. Make a list of each art style, technique, or genre you want to test out. Make note of tools you want to consider including in your style. Gather all the supplies and take one idea & create the same thing in a variety of ways. Sketch the exact same thing with pen, pencil, charcoal, markers, etc. Paint it with watercolor, acrylic, or gouache. Try drawing or painting it digitally or create a collage. Try the same project with any & every technique you've identified you love. And start to narrow down what lights you up while you're doing it. You'll know the feeling instantly, when you're excited to see where things are heading.

You may still have a divide between loving an aspect of your work and being good enough to sell it. This is where you get to practice and make plenty of mediocre art. You only get better by doing. As you make lots of art, identify which parts bring you joy that you want to be a part of your signature style.

From there, see if you can turn any of your work into a product, either in a repeating pattern or on a standalone design that could be made into wall art or added to a product. Then test it on a mockup. Sometimes things you think are just okay look amazing when you put it in place on a product. Lots of people make great art and stop there. They struggle to get from created art to a product that sells. Maybe seeing the process of developing your signature style will help you identify where you're getting stuck. Maybe you already make great art, you just need guidance on creating products out of it. But hopefully, working through some of this will help you see what's been keeping you blocked.

I walk through lessons on all of this in my membership so if you want step-by-step help, you can take a look at my membership that helps entrepreneurs create & scale their own passive product business.

Warmest regards,

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